DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me,
says the Lord,
for I am gentle and humble in heart. MT 11:29
PHILIPPIANS 1:18-26
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
If we do not experience what St. Paul and all the saints experienced it is because we lack their joyous faith and unwavering hope in the Good News that saves. Nothing mattered to them so much as to be able to preach the Gospel not only by words but more importantly by their lives. After their encounter with You they fell passionately in love with You and their lives were changed forever by the encounter.
For the saint, nothing matters more than to preach the Gospel and to hear it preached. There is no greater joy than to make You known and loved by all for without You life is hollow and meaningless. St. Paul had an unquenchable thirst to leave this earth and enter into perfect union with You in eternity but he was aware that as long there were souls to be saved and won for Your glory, then he would choose to continue to live for their sake.
How little we care to labor for souls. We are indifferent to the mission entrusted to us. If we only had a small part of the zeal of St. Paul we too would hunger and thirst to win souls for the Kingdom of God. We too would work tirelessly to bring in the harvest instead of carping all the time and belittling everyone, and attend to the work assigned to us. Help us, Lord, so we may not stand before You with empty hands. Make us zealous for souls.
PSALM 42:2-3, 5
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
We have only to look around us to see how little most people's lives have changed despite the clarion call to wake up and take a good hard look at ourselves. There is another way to live. There is a way to live joyful, peaceful lives in harmony with God, and with one another.
We hunger and thirst alright, but it is for the wrong things. We exhaust ourselves looking for distractions to fill our vacuous lives. We have closed our ears to Your voice entreating us to enter into a loving relationship with You. We are afraid to commit our lives to You because we believe You will ask for more than we are prepared to give. We have become addicted to material things and lack the strength to give up the transient pleasures of the flesh that we have come to believe we cannot live without.
Our thirst will never be slaked nor our hunger satisfied unless we still our souls and listen to the Spirit, the voice of wisdom that invites us to understand that only You can satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts. When my Beloved, if not now, will we wake up? Grant that we will not be caught asleep and unprepared when the Bridegroom arrives but will be part of the rejoicing crowd singing songs of gladness and thanksgiving as we enter the house of God, the Kingdom of Heaven.
LUKE 14:1, 7-11
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Humility is the hallmark of the saints. You were both God and Man, and there has never been anyone more humble than You. As the only Son of God, all the angels in the heavenly realm worshiped and adored. As the Eternal Word, You reposed with the Father eternally. As one who was all-powerful, You commanded legions of angels and yet You submitted to the will of the Father and in perfect obedience and humility, You came into the world to become the willing Victim of Sacrifice to be offered in oblation for the sin of Adam and for the sins of the whole world.
This is why it is wise for us to pay particular attention to what You say in the Gospel today. In a world where everyone is consumed with rising as high as they possibly can in order to wield power and influence among those with even greater power and influence, You remind us that it is wise and prudent to always exercise the virtue of humility.
God raises the humble but He abhors the proud. It is far better for us to realize our unworthiness and to be invited by You to a place of honor rather than rush in to occupy a seat already reserved for someone more deserving of it and to be asked to go lower down. It is far better to be honored and exalted by God than to be honored and exalted by the world.
Humility must be the watchword of every Christian.
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